Betts, I am with you about the prospect of not passing this sales tax vote being depressing and I know that you do love Oklahoma City. I don't know if you lived here "before MAPS," though.

Back then, it wasn't easy for the city's leadership to get MAPS passed, even though it happened, and, after that, and after the city started feeling "good" about itself again after decades of the opposite, the city's leadership found that most were willing to continue the investment in making Oklahoma City become what it might become. Tulsa obviously has a different "take" on such things than most voters here came to have ... even though that could change here easily enough. I do see this vote as being in the magnitude you suggest. Those interested in and/or not familiar with the "history" of those pre-and-post-MAPS days might read Lackmeyer & Money's Okc: Second Time Around. They tell the story very well. It is a story that should not be forgotten.